Elderly dental patient question.

Q.
Via email Wednesday January 6, 2010 from Mary F.

My elderly mother has dentures to replace her top and bottom teeth, her dentures are comfortable, but I am wondering does she need to come to the dentist anymore?

A.

Thank you for your question Mary. You did not specify if your mother has any natural teeth left or not so I will assume that she does not. Even with dentures that replace all of her missing teeth, your mother should visit her dental office on yearly basis to have a complete check-up of her oral cavity. In my dental practice, at this visit we would remove her dentures and examine all the tissues of her oral cavity, besides checking for areas where the denture may not be fitting properly ,we also perform a visual and Vizilite (www.vizilite.com) oral cancer examination. Oral tissue like any other tissue in the body has the potential to develop cell changes overtime and a yearly exam of the mouth is important to catch any possible changes. An improperly fitting denture over time also may have the potential to cause tissue changes. Overall, even people without natural teeth should have their mouths examined on a yearly basis or more if they have had any sores/lesions or precancerous changes in the past.

In the next year my dental practice will hold a new Oral Cancer Screening Program. This program will be free and open to all residents of Toronto. More information to come on my website at www.drnathanhaas.com/news